Stropper and honer



Jan. 5, 1954 E. J. sPEAKE STROPPER AND HONER Filed May 20, 1950 Patented Jan. 5, 1954 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 6 Claims.

This invention relates to a razor blade stropper and honer. More particularly, it is a device upon which a razor blade can be quickly and easily mounted and which can be placed upon a razor strap and moved with a reciprocating motion to strop and/or hone the edge of the blade.

It is an'object of the invention to provide a device which is light and simple in structure wherein means is provided for advantageously reversing the blade upon a reversal of the direction of the unit as it is reciprocated along a razor strap.

Another object is to provide means for tilting the blade. away from the strop prior to the general reversal of the device after each stroke.

Another object is to provide blade reversing means including a strap contacting roller which. is drivingly connected to a rotary or oscillatory blade holder, wherein the roller has a relatively smooth surface which will permit it to slip on the strap after each reversal of the blade.

A further object is to provide a strap contacting and blade reversing roller which will maintain a frictional drag on the strap after each reversal of the blade to maintain the blade edge in contact with the strap.

A still further object is to provide a blade holding clip which will insure proper angular disposal of the blade relative to the strap.

' Other objects and advantages will more fully appear from the following description in connection with the accompanying drawing where- Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the device on a strap, showing the blade holder and blade in reversed positions in full and dotted lines.

' Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view through the device Fig. 3"is an enlarged section taken approximat'ely on the line III-III of Fig. 2..

111 the drawing there is shown a handle 6 which includes a relatively stationary central shaft 8 on which is a rotatable sleeve [0. Phe shaft 8 is provided with an outer head portion l2 which lies in a socket M in the end of the sleeve ID. A suitable plug l6 may be provided to close the outer end of said sleeve. The left or inner end of the shaft 8 is anchored in one end of a handle offset 18.

Extending parallel to the handle 3 and from an intermediate portion of the offset I8 is a roller shaft 20 whose right end as viewed in Fig. 2 is anchored in said offset I8. A gear 2| is fixed on a roller 22 and lies in a recess 24 which is formed inwardly from one face of said oflset.

' the roller sleeve 22.

Freely rotatable on the shaft 20 is the roller sleeve 22 which extends throughout a substantial portion of the length of its supporting shaft. The left end of the shaft 20 extends slightly beyond Fixed upon this extending end is a supporting element 26. Extending between the supporting element 26 and the outer end portion of the offset I8 is a rotatable shaft 28. This shaft has a gear 30 fixed on its inner end, said gear being located in the recess 24 and.

being in mesh with the gear 2| on the roller 22.

Fixed upon the shaft 28 and rotatable therewith is a razor blade clamping unit 32. It comprises a pair of spaced jaw portions 34, the outer edges of which are flared outwardly as at 36.

Outer portions of the jaws 34 are provided with complementary elongated indentations 39 which retain the back reinforcement 38 on a single edge blade. Said indentations 39 are also provided to lie in the usual central longitudinal opening of a double edge blade, thereby providing a universal blade holder.

The spacing of the jaws 34 is important. This permits the blade to tilt in the holder and assume a more acute angle to the strap. As shown in the drawing, the position of the blade is flatter than that of the holder which has a fixed pivot point above the roller 22. This roller lies above the strap. Consequently, it is not possible to.

provide a reversible clip or holder of practical size which will be at the proper angle to the strap.

When a blade is clamped in the unit in the manner illustrated, the device is pressed on a stropping or honing element such as the strap 42 shown in Fig. 1. It will be seen that the roller 22 lies in contact with the strap and that the handle offset l8 and supporting element 26 at the left end of the roller shaft 20 lie at opposite edges of the strap 42. The elements [8 and 26 provide guide means for maintaining the device in proper relationship to the strap 42 as the stropper and honer is reciprocated relative to the strap.

Referring to Fig. 1, let us assume that the device is drawn downwardly or in the direction of the solid arrow. Rotation of the roller, 22 and gears 2| and 30 will rotate the shaft 28 and blade holder 32. If, at the beginning of the downward stroke. mentioned above, the blade and blade holder are in the broken line position of Fig. 1. they will immediately swing over to the full line position and remain therein through the downward stroke. As soon as the blade contacts the strap 42, the roller 22 will slide on the strap with sufficient frictional drag to keep the edge of the 3 blade pressed against the strap. Obviously, when the direction of stroke along the strap is reversed, the position of the blade will be reversed. The blade will always follow the blade holder and a smooth sharp edge can be restored.

The offset l8 and the rotatable handle have an important function when the stroke is reversed. At the first instant of reversal, the offset I8 will tilt and the edge of the blade will be lifted from the surface of the strap. This tilting action occurs before the device moves along the strap in a reverse direction, and as a result, the blade cannot dig into the strap. Furthermore, the

rotatable handle portion permits the freetilting of the offset.

It should be understood that changes can be made in the details and form of the device without departing from the spirit of the invention.

I claim:

1. A razor blade stropper and honer including an elongated handle having an offset member at one end thereof, the handle being freely rotatable about its longitudinal axis and relative to the offset member, a strop-engaging roller extending from said offset member with its axis parallel to that of the handle and rotatable relative thereto, a rotatable blade holding unit having its axis in spaced parallel relation to the longitudinal axis of the roller, and a rotary drive connection between the roller and the blade holding unit.

2. A razor blade stropper and honer including a handle unit having a handle freely rotatable thereon, a roller shaft having one end supported by said handle unit and relative to which the handle is freely rotatable, said shaft extending outwardly beyond the end of the handle unit in the same direction as the handle unit, a roller freely rotatable on said shaft, a blade holding unit rotatably supported by said handle unit and having its axis fixed in a common plane with that of said roller and said handle unit, the roller axis lying between the axes of the handle and the blade holding unit, and a rotary drive connection between said roller and said blade holding unit.

3. A razor blade stropper and honer including a handle having a freely rotatable grip, a single roller shaft having one end supported by said handle, said shaft extending outwardly beyond the end of the handle and in the same general direction as the handle, a roller freely rotatable on said shaft, a blade holding unit including a shaft having its inner end rotatably supported by said handle with its axis parallel to that of said roller, a support for the outer end of said blade holding unit, the axis of the roller shaft lying between the axes of the blade holding unit shaft and the handle, said support being mounted on and supported by the outer end of said roller shaft only, a rotary drive connection between said roller and said blade holding unit, and'the stropper and honer being free of any structure underlying the roller.

4. A razor blade stropper and honer including a handle, said handle including a main portion and an upwardly offset end portion, the main handle portion being freely rotatable relative to said offset end portion, a roller having an inner end rotatably and entirely supported by said offset end portion, the roller having its axis of rotation lying above and generally parallel to the longitudinal axis of the handle, a rotatable blade holding unit carried by an upper portion of said offset end portion, and a drivecon'nec'tion between the roller and the blade holding unit.

5. A razor blade stropper and honor including a handle, said handle having an upwardly offset end portion, a roller unit including a shaft having its inner end rotatably supported by said upwardly offset handle portion and having a roller thereon, the roller unit lying entirely above and generally parallel to the handle, the lower portion of the roller being exposed to permit placement thereof on a razor strap without threading the strap through the stropper, a rotatable blade holding unit carried by theoifset portion of the handle, a drive connection between the roller and the blade holding unit, and a member bridging the outer ends of the roller shaft and the blade holding unit and being otherwise free of any connection with the handle.

6. A razor blade stropper and honer including a blade holder, a support for the blade holder, said blade holder being swingable relative to the support, the blade holder including a blade confining portion, said blade confining portion comprising a pair of spaced elements between which the blade can swing and which serve as stops for alternately maintaining the blade in a predetermined angular relationship to the blade holder and to a razor strop, and the spaced elements having opposed projecting portions whose overall spacing is of less length than the lengths of the spaced elements, said projecting portions being arranged for reception in the longitudinal slot of a longitudinally slotted double edge razor blade.

EIMER J. SPEAKE.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 750,399 Scheuber Jan. 26, 1904 951,240 Gibford Mar. 8, 1910 1,003,021 Willett Sept. 12, 1911 1,006,949 Kampfe Oct. 24, 1911 1,072,288 Williams Sept. 2, 1913 1,418,694 Bertz June 6, 1922 1,466,605 Thomas Aug. 28, 1923 1,495,833 Alcorta May 2'7, 1924 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 11,173 Great Britain May 22, 1908 18,422 Great Britain Sept. 2, 1908 403,142 France 1 Sept. 1'7, 1909 233,150 Great Britain May 7, 1925 

